But that's not the only mistake the new management has made. Macy's alienated customers in Chicago by insisting that the name of Marshall Field and Company, a beloved Chicago institution, be changed to Macy's. Chicagoans with a sense of history protested, petitioned, then decided to boycott the renamed store.

Would ''Macy's Marshall Fields,'' a compromise acceptable to the protesters, have been such a problem? What happened to the policy that the customer is always right?

Also, has anybody noticed that for the past year all Macy's employees have been required to dress in all-black all year round? Does the new management think that sales associates dressed for a funeral would set the cash registers ringing?